Method of making shoes



A. F. BANCROFT METHOD OF MAKING SHOES.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 3. 1919.

1,314,239. Patented Aug. 20, 1919.

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ALBERT F. BAN CROFT, 0F I-IAVERHILL, MASSACHUSETTS.

.. mnrnon OF MAKING SHOES.

Specification of letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 26, 1919.

Application filed May 3, 1919. Serial No. 294,406.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, ALBERT F. BANOROFT, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Haverhill, county of Essex, State of assachusetts, have invented an Improvement in Methods of Making Shoes, of which the following is a specification.

In the manufacture of McKay sewed shoes the method which is generally employed consists in lasting the shoe on an iron bottomed last, and driving the lasting tacks through the inner sole against the iron bottom, so that they will be clenched on the inner side of the inner sole. These lasting tacks which are, necessarily, left in the shoe by this method, are objectionable for several reasons, the most serious of which may be said to be due to the fact that they make the bottom of the shoe stiff and inflexible; also, on account of the fact that the lasting tacks are liable not to be properly clenched, or to work through, so as to hurt the foot of the wearer. In other words, it is a well known fact that the presence of the lasting tacks in the ball portion of a McKay sewed shoe is highly objectionable, their presence in other portions not being a matter of serious consequence.

The object of my invention is to produce an improved method of making McKay sewed shoes, which will enable the lasting tacks at nd adjacent the ball portion of the shoe to be eliminated.

I accomplish this object in the manner hereinafter described, the various steps of the method being in part illustrated in the accompanying drawing in which Figure 1 is a perspective view showing the shoe after it has been lasted.

Fig. 2 is a sectional'view along the line which the lasting tacks are driven.

Fig. 3 is a view, similar to Fig. 1, illustrating the appearance of the shoe when ready for sewing, and

Fig. 4 is a view of the bottom portion of a last which I preferably employ in carrying out the method hereinafter described.

In carrying out my method, I preferably employ a form of last which is constructed as ilustrated in Fig. 4, in which the iron bottom a is provided with narrow slots a a which extend in the line in which the lasting tacks'are to be driven from a point a short distance in the rear of the tip portion to the front end of the shank portion, so that, when the lasting tacks are driven, in performing the side-lasting operation, they will be driven into the wood of the last.

The first step in the method may he considered as in the lasting operation, which is the same as in the usual method, except that, when the side-lasting operation is performed, the lasting tacks 5 are driven through the slots a, a in the last bottom and are not clenched, as they are driven into the wood. As a matter of convenience, the tacks which are used are longer than those ordinarily employed, so that their heads will not be driven down close to the upper. The tacks in the other portions of the shoe are driven against the iron sole bottom, so that they are clenched in the ordinary manner.

The edge portions of the upper which are held in position by the tacks a are then tightly laced together by thread 0, this being done in any convenient manner, usually by hand, with a curved needle, and, after this has been done, the tacks b are removed, but the upper will still be held tightly in place by the thread 0, at the points at which the tacks have been removed, the removal of which may be easily accomplished, without injury to the leather, as their points have not been bent by being driven against an iron last bottom. I

After these tacks have been removed, the last is withdrawn and the shoe is sewed by the usual McKay process.

The shoe thus produced is similar in all respects to the ordinary McKay shoe, except that there are no lasting tacks therein, in or adjacent the ball portion, or that portion in which there is substantial bending of the shoe when worn, so that the shoe is, in fact, much more flexible and comfortable for the wearer than it otherwise. would be, the prestogether the opposite edge portions of the 1 once of the thread 0 in no way affecting the upper held by said tacks, so that the upper matter of flexibility. is held in the position in which it was lasted, I claim: independently of said tacks, and in then 5 The method of making ,McKay sewed withdrawing said tacks and completing shoes which consists in lasting on, and in the operation of makingthe shoe. 7 15 securing the upper in position at, and ad- In testimony whereof I have slgned my jaoent the ball portion of the shoe by drivname to this specification. ing tacks into the wood of the'last; lacing ALBERT F. BANCROFT.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for 'fiife cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, O. 

